The Ripple Effect

collaboration, education, environment, sustainability

By: Jerry Danni, Vice President, Environment, Goldcorp

Back in July, when we were finalizing our new Sustainability Excellence Management System (SEMS), we knew we needed something symbolic and expressive to represent the program—something to catch people’s imagination and bring home the concept of environmental stewardship in the same simple, memorable way that Safe Enough for Our Familiescaptures the essence of workplace safety at Goldcorp.

We needed a tagline. A slogan. A simple “sound bite” phrase that rolls off the tongue and remains in the heart. Instead of hiring a communications agency, we decided to look within Goldcorp. Not only is this company packed with intelligence and creativity, who better than our own people to articulate our corporate vision for sustainability in all our endeavors.

Seeking the memorable, effective and inspirational

We put out the call to the entire company. The contest, called The Ripple Effect, offered a substantial prize to the individual who could devise the most compelling slogan. Very soon, entries began to arrive. Each project, operation, regional and corporate office selected a winner, and those finalists were presented to both a judging panel and subjected to a company-wide popular vote.

It was important to all of us that the judging process be impartial and transparent. The selection committee was composed of representatives from many of our properties, from every region, and included the Chair of the Board for Goldcorp’s Sustainability, Environment, Health and Safety Committee.

The unanimous winner was Our Planet. Our Choices. Our Legacy. It’s a powerful, memorable phrase that conveys the message that every one of us is responsible for the choices we make, and that our actions affect the planet. It captures the sentiment that ultimately, every one of us is a member of the Goldcorp environmental team.

Congratulations to the winning contributor, Kaeli Gattens, from Corporate Communications in Vancouver. Clearly, Kaeli has chosen the right career path. She truly has a gift for effective communication. She is also an inspirational example of personal social responsibility: rather than pocketing the prize money, Kaeli donated it to the Pacific Salmon Foundation, a charitable foundation that works to preserve ecosystems impacting salmon stocks on the Pacific coastline.

The logo: our fingerprint on the planet

A powerful visual supports the tagline: an earth-shaped blue fingerprint, representing the individual imprints that each of us leaves on our planet. As the SEMS program rolls out, the new logo will appear across the company and on publications related to sustainability.

The SEMS will measure performance consistently across all Goldcorp projects and operations. It will provide benchmarks that make environmental management easier for employees to follow, and easier for stakeholders to measure. Over time, it will ensure continuous improvement in our environmental performance and transparency in reporting.

Our Planet. Our Choices. Our Legacy is a powerful expression of our commitment as a company and as individuals, to the environment and our responsibility to it, in all of our decisions and actions.